Profile Applicability:
 • Level 1

Description:
 rsyslog is a powerful syslog daemon that provides system logging capabilities for Linux systems. Ensuring it is installed is critical for centralized logging, monitoring, and auditing purposes.

Rationale:
 Having a reliable syslog service like 
rsyslog enables effective collection and management of system and application logs, supporting security monitoring and compliance.

Impact:
 Pros:

  • Facilitates centralized logging and audit trail creation.

  • Supports real-time log analysis and alerting.

Cons:

  • Installation alone does not configure logging policies.

Default Value:
 
rsyslog may not be installed by default on minimal or custom Linux installations.

Pre-requisites:

  • Root or sudo privileges to install packages.

Remediation:

Test Plan:

Using Linux command line:

  1. Check if rsyslog is installed:

On RPM-based systems:

rpm -q rsyslog
  1. Confirm package installation status.

Implementation Plan:

Using Linux command line:

  1. Install rsyslog if missing:

On RPM-based systems:

yum install rsyslog -y


2. Verify installation:

rsyslogd -version


Backout Plan:

Using Linux command line:

  1. Remove rsyslog if necessary:

On RPM-based systems:

yum remove rsyslog -y
  1. Confirm removal.

References:

  • CIS Amazon Linux 2 Benchmark v3.0.0

  • rsyslog Documentation